THE RIGHT BINOCULARS OPENS THE WORLD TO YOU!

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Legendary Car Guy has spent 40 hours pouring over web reviews about binoculars and testing them in outdoor stores. He is ready to descend the mountain and proclaim the best binoculars for the rest of us to buy. This is no easy feat as there are thousands of swell binoculars out there.

But first, let’s agree that a set of good binoculars is essential to your happiness. With a pair, the world in front of you – almost like a new dimension – suddenly fills your eyes!

Legendary Car Guy has been looking for a set that would not be devoted to star-gazing or birding. He didn’t want to tote one to the ballet to catch every en pointe. Actually he had in mind hanging out at the track and seeing what the racers are doing on the farside mulsanne, or even what mayhem is going on in the pits. Plus the occasional tracking of a favored child pedaling up the street. And even, what is making that noise in the house behind us?

Mistakes can be made choosing binoculars. Some highly rated binoculars, like the Celestron SkyMaster, are really best for astronomers. While it might seem delightful to see the rings of Saturn, even in the dimness of night, you may not like toting the 3 lbs – roughly equivalent to 4 full cans of beer. Or trying to steady your field of view at 15x magnification.

Finding the right binoculars means balancing criteria. Magnification magnifies what you’re looking at. It also magnifies your own shakes and jitters. So higher the power, harder to hold binoculars steady. Unless you’re using a tripod, 8x should be maximum.

Magnification power affects brightness. Other things being equal, the higher the power, the dimmer the view. And power also affects the field of view of the binoculars. The higher the power, the smaller the field of view. If your field of view is too narrow, you’ll miss the car about to catapult past the leader on the last turn.